Flyers 4, Oilers 2 post-game Oil Spills: Too little, too late

You can’t sleepwalk through two full periods and expect to win a game, even if it’s against a team that goes nearly a month at a time without winning like the Flyers. The Oilers put forward a terrible effort last night and got a result they deserved.

Highlights

The Oilers grabbed the lead early on in the second period on the penalty kill. Connor McDavid made an excellent defensive play working the puck away from Sean Couturier, busted down the ice, and fed Leon Draisaitl, who made a nice swoop through the circle to be beside the net at the perfect time for a tap in.

The Flyers went on to score three goals after that, highlighted by this one by Michael Raffl. Kris Russell was rolling into the zone and made a terrible pass to Patrick Maroon that resulted in a breakaway for Raffl. I’m not really sure why, with a couple players moving towards the net, Russell didn’t just get a low shot on goal. But his dad was in the rodeo, so it’s fine.

The Oilers pulled themselves to within one goal with a few minutes left in the third when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins buried a rebound past Brian Elliott. This was an excellent shift by the second line to work the puck down low and get it out in front. Rather than trying to make a perfect play, Patrick Maroon got the puck, fed Mike Cammalleri in front, and RNH was on the doorstep ready for a rebound.

In the dying seconds of the game, the Oilers had a nice flurry of chances, but it was too little too late. Brian Elliott stood tall and Wayne Simmonds ended up burying an empty net goal for the 4-2 win.

The Oilers were asleep at the wheel for the first two periods and that shows up in the numbers. The Flyers had 30 even strength shot attempts in comparison to Edmonton’s 23 through 40 minutes, which honestly flatters the Oilers. They were very, very bad and the only reason it wasn’t worse is because they were playing a team that lost every single game for nearly a month. They turned on the jets in the third period, but failed to generate many quality chances. The Oilers had 18 shot attempts to Philadelphia’s 10, but Edmonton only had four high danger chances in the final 20 minutes.

Thoughts…

There isn’t all that much to say about a game like that. As I’ve mentioned multiple times, the team was asleep during the first two periods. I don’t know what the issue is or why the Oilers can’t motivate themselves to get off to a good start, but even after scoring a short handed goal to kick off the second period, they were still flat. I’m not sure what to suggest. But I have a sinking feeling it’s going to take more than smelling salts to wake this team up on a consistent basis.

Laurent Brossoit was decent enough. Obviously he isn’t going to steal games for you, but he was good enough for the team to win. Unfortunately, there wasn’t very much room for error as the offence was non-existent throughout the majority of the game.

I’m trying to think of positives from that game but am drawing a blank. Darnell Nurse had another good game, but otherwise, there wasn’t any strong, consistent play from anybody else on the ice.

Pathetic state of affairs that a team that should be built around the generational talent can’t get themselves out of the basement.
This is worse than 13/14 , even if we make more points.
Only consolation will be to sweep the Shames and get them to miss the playoffs (too, we aren’t playing one game after April 7)

Oilers do have the player personnel to be successful this year thanks to Chia’s shuffling . Expecting this years group to play like playoff intensity for entire season is rather expecting far to much from any club – will and does not happen . Coaching mainly making the most of team considering the real talent overall they have to deal with .

Ha! Wouldn’t count on it with PC at the helm. Master of horrible trades and salary dumps for big slow overpaid players. We could have had Barzal and Carlo but got Reinhart. Don’t mind the Larsson trade, but he got fleeced in the Eberle deal. We’re screwed.

Technically we would have had Erikson Ek and Carlo. Still better than Reinhart but not as good as Barzal and Carlo. Not sure if that makes me feel better or worse knowing that we weren’t going to draft Barzal.

Not necessarily true. When people like Matheson or who ever say we wouldn’t have drafted Barzal with that pick it’s going off of talk at the time that we were interested in Svechnikov or Erickson Ek but no one thought Barzal was even going to be available with that pick. He dropped further than anyone imagined. So when he was in fact available still it would have(should have) been a no brainer. But who knows.

I can agree to that but I am speaking only on play this year. From the way people talk, you would think Nuge is on pace for 80 points and Lucic 30. Not talking about next 4 years of contract, just this season. A lot closer in value than people want to admit.

There is a serious leadership void on this team right now in that they look disinterested every other night. I refuse to believe that this team lacks the talent to be a playoff team. When they work hard, they can compete and win games, but for some reason they seem to take way too many nights off. They let the Flyers dictate the play through two periods, and only woke up after they were down by 2. This team is done for this season. I have no faith that they can turn things around when I see them put out an effort like they did tonight. Disgraceful.

Another thought on this lack of winning two games in a row. Every time they win McLellan says he will go with the same lineup as a reward to the guys that won the game. This clearly hasn’t worked. Instead of realistically looking at who had good games or not and replacing some who didn’t. This might keep them engaged in the next game and maybe get off to a better start to that second game if they didn’t feel entitled after winning one game. I was disappointed that Davidson didn’t get in last night. Our defense is obviously not good enough.

The changes that need to be made are obvious and they begin at the top of the organization. This team is a joke. Lots of Good players, but a terrible organization that doesnt know anything about winning, other than lottery picks, in the last 30 years

Last night I watched the game and found it painful, imagine buying a couple of tickets for $200 plus parking and everything else and that is your reward. The team decided to coast for 75% of the game even though they were losing?
Great business model, deliver crap product while asking for lots of money, amazing the owner is not doing something about this.
Terrible management that has resulted in a terrible product (the facts back this statement up) and a coach that is not really suited to get the best out of every player, he is more suited to run a team that knows what they are doing like the team he came from.
How many times has the coach said I don’t have an answer, hard not to feel bad for him.
This team will be cap crunched next season and their two really expensive players are not ripping up the league. McDavid is doing good but will be making the most in the entire league next season so good doesn’t cut it, Dria is making way more than he is delivering, I think he is 88th is points this season.
Trade him when even PC could get a kings ransom.
Looking at the cap situation next season looks bleaker than this season.
Seriously one great season does not make up for 10 years of terrible play.
I guess as long as the building sells out the owner doesn’t care now he is moving to LA.

Not surprising at all . All we heard while him and his buddy Mandel conspired to screw the taxpayers of Edmonton, was about what a great Edmontonian he is. Except as soon as everything was approved , he and his family moved to Vancouver immediately. Some crap about better schools. LOL. It is obvious by his inaction that he does not care. Swore I would not fly my Oilers flag on my vehicle until they hit .500. Looks like I might as well put it back in storage AGAIN!

There is a serious issue in the oilers dressing room that the coaches need to resolve it’s between 2 players and until this matter gets dealt with this team is dead in the water. I’m actually shocked they have not dealt with it yet but clearly by the way they are playing they need to move one of them.